Book Reviews

They say you should write what you know, and this advice has paid off handsomely for author C.J. Box. His best-selling novels, most of which feature crime-solving game warden Joe Pickett (who, like Box, is a Wyoming native, outdoorsman and dedicated family man), have sold millions of copies and won Box countless awards, including an Edgar Award in 2009, from the Mystery Writers of America, for Best Novel. Box and Pickett (who is once again the main character of Box’s newest work, Force of Nature, released this past March), share one other very important characteristic—both are avid fly fishermen. And while Pickett’s angling stories are fictitious, Box, in one of the few spare moments when he wasn’t either fishing or writing, agreed to share the truth behind his own fish tales.

A Passion for Tarpon

By: Seth Norman

Tarpon. if that word brings up images that make you tremble, then Pat Ford’s photos in this tome may provoke a petit mal. A reader who’s never yet caught one may think again, “I just have to this lifetime”; and then, after poring over author Andy Mill’s instructions, believe they could hook and land a silver king, maybe. And yet…

A reviewer of tarpon media who hasn’t done so himself (yet) must admit a gross gap in angling experience, by way of adding “for what it’s worth” to praise, criticism or inchoate mewling sounds. Multiple confessions of this fact may initiate bitter spiritual journeys, as in “What kind of SOB was I, last incarnation, to be denied a tarpon this time around?” In my case, I will admit unhappily, the hours spent with A Passion for Tarpon answered that question: I was Vlad, the Impaler.

The Royal Wulff Murders: A Novel

By: Seth Norman

So you’re sean shanahan—semi-starving artist, former private investigator, a hard-core fly fisher still emotionally entangled with that ex-wife you left behind when you moved to Bridger, Montana. You’re minding your business, such as it is, hanging on to hope and a paintbrush when—per the jacket blurb of The Royal Wulff Murders— “Delta siren Velvet Lafayette” stops by. She’s sultry a la Spade, wears lipstick the color of blood, and wants to hire you to—what else?—fish the Madison River for as long as it takes to catch trout with fins notched by her late father, by way of finding the riffle where he wanted his ashes spread. She’ll pay you a grand for this service, half down, and—shame on you for hoping—maybe a romantic bonus, TBA.

If you’re a western fly fisher and you don’t know Landon Mayer you’ve had your head in the sand or somewhere else equally dark.

Mayer is a Colorado guide who specializes in finding big trout for he and his clients. And most of his research happens in Colorado where he and his family live. During winter he takes to the road and speaks for the International Sportsman’s Exhibition, in Denver, Sacramento and elsewhere. He’s a good angler, no doubt, but I’m more impressed by his mentality; I’ve been fortunate enough to spend time with Mayer, over steaks and beers, and the passion he shows for our sport and the willingness he demonstrates to share his findings with others is what sets him apart. Believe me, in this day and age, with egos running rampant, and jealousies hampering good writers’ best efforts, it’s amazing that there’s any literature out there for those who are interested in the sport and just want to taste some success and do so in a classy manner.

Miami Herald columnist and novelist Carl Hiaasen casts all hues of the writing spectrum as well as, if not better than, any American author. From “beach-read” novels and stinging political commentary to wildly popular books for young readers, Hiaasen shows an innate ability to command attention from, inform and entertain the broadest audiences.